New Washington Law Protects Employees’ Social Media Accounts

On May 21, Governor Jay Inslee signed a new Washington state law that makes it unlawful for employers to require an employee or applicant to disclose social networking website usernames or passwords, or to force an employee or applicant to add any person to the employee’s list of social networking contacts. This law becomes effective July 28.

Washington joins a host of other states that have taken legislative action to protect employee social media accounts. Maryland, Illinois, California, Michigan, Utah and New Mexico have passed similar laws, and as many as 20 other states have similar bills pending.

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DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

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